Investigating the distribution of urban public services and its spatial reflection from the perspective of social justice (case study of Yazd city)

Dissertation

To receive a Master's degree

Department of Geography and Urban Planning

Abstract

Social justice means respecting the rights of others and respecting public interests. In fact, social justice is the result of social evolution. The realization of social justice depends on the proper distribution of urban public uses and services. The purpose of this research is to investigate the realization of social justice in the three regions of Yazd city by using indicators of urban facilities and services and its relationship with population distribution and land prices through the methods of factor analysis, sum of services, standardization, characteristic coefficient, numerical taxonomy, Shannon entropy and TOPSIS.

According to the findings of the research, there are social, economic and cultural inequalities between the three regions of Yazd city. The existence of inequality caused by the lack of fair enjoyment of city facilities and services by the regions has caused social justice to be not realized in Yazd city. This leads to the concentration of the population in some parts of the city and the spatial reflection of the unfair distribution of urban services is the difference in land prices in the three areas of Yazd city. The conditions for the realization of social justice can be pointed out to the balanced distribution of urban land use, the creation of a land bank, revision of the way of preparing comprehensive plans and special attention to critical and vulnerable areas. Keywords: spatial distribution, public services, land value, inequality. Preface. Enjoying these services. The amount and manner of distribution of urban services has an effective role in the spatial displacement of the population and demographic changes in urban areas. Also, the distribution pattern of urban service centers causes different value of urban land and adds to the separation of human groups. Therefore, the role of urban planners in creating and strengthening social and economic segregation is obvious.

The present research examines the distribution of public services in the city of Yazd and its spatial reflection from the perspective of social justice. The present research tries to identify the spatial distribution of services and facilities in Yazd, examine its relationship with social justice research, and finally examine and analyze its spatial reflection with population distribution and land prices.

This research consists of five chapters. In the first chapter, the generalities of the research are given. The second chapter includes the theoretical foundations of the research, where the concepts and theories related to social justice are defined. In the third chapter, the study area is introduced. In this chapter, the characteristics of the city of Yazd in terms of geography, population, economy and society and the spatial analysis of the course of the physical developments of the city of Yazd are given. The fourth chapter includes discussion and analysis, which includes the definition of zoning and examination of public facilities and services of Yazd city, and finally, by using models such as factor analysis, numerical taxonomy, feature coefficient and TOPSIS, the ranking of Yazd city areas has been done. Also, the price of land and its relationship with urban facilities and public services and the distribution of population distribution in Yazd city were investigated. In the fifth chapter, hypotheses were tested, conclusions were drawn, and finally, suggestions were presented. Chapter 1: Generalities of the research Introduction: The existence of spatial inequality and imbalance among the residents of different areas of a city is not a new phenomenon in any city in the world. In developing countries, due to the extreme social and economic differences and inequality and imbalance in urban services, the spatial difference between cities has intensified (Abdi Daneshpour, 2018: 37). The spatial structure of a city consists of components and elements that interact with each other and the instability of each component will affect the entire structure (Savage and Ward, 2010: 90). In fact, a balanced spatial organization in cities is a type of urban sustainability, and this sustainability is created when there is a logical harmony and compatibility between population distribution and service distribution in cities. The most important factor affecting the spatial distribution of population in urban areas is the distribution of services in cities. The residence of low-income classes in places that are not attractive to other social groups leads to the concentration of poverty, and this process leads to the separation of the low-income class from other social groups (Shah Hosseini, 1384: 158). The distribution pattern of urban service centers is one of the effective factors that cause the different value of urban land and fuel the separation of human groups.

Today, the discussion of social justice is the focus of urban studies in all related fields. The realization of social justice in cities has finally led to the satisfaction of citizens with their way of life. It also greatly contributes to national authority and political stability. Geographically, the social justice of the city is synonymous with the fair spatial distribution of facilities and resources between different urban areas and the equal access of citizens to them because their lack of fair distribution will lead to social crises and complex spatial problems (Sharifi, 2015: 6). In fact, the existence of inequality in the quality of life makes the disadvantaged groups look at the reference groups and creates other problems (Jajroumi and Kolte, 2015: 7). Therefore, the most important task of urban planners and managers in this field is to try to provide equal opportunity for different urban groups to urban services and eliminate inequality in providing educational, health, service, etc. opportunities. In order to achieve this goal, the principle of equality and equal access to urban life opportunities must be observed.

Today, the city of Yazd is facing social-spatial imbalances. The physical development of Yazd city expanded greatly with the formation of marginal towns and the integration of surrounding villages. The rapid growth of Yazd city in recent years has broken the homogeneous and balanced spatial organization of the city. Unbalanced physical and physical development of the city has caused ecological separation. In other words, some regions and localities have good access to services, while some regions and localities of the city do not have access to services despite their high population. In this regard, the present research tries to identify the social, economic and cultural inequalities between the three regions of Yazd city. Determine the relationship between population distribution and service distribution, as well as the relationship between urban public services and land prices.  

1-1 Statement of the problem

The first step in any research is to choose and understand the problem. Issues usually originate from a sense of need for human knowledge or a sense of responsibility. The growth of urbanization and urbanism in the world is increasing and this process will continue to its maximum limit until its stabilization stage. In the meantime, urban life develops and the behavior of city dwellers is coordinated with this development.

Social justice in the city means the continuation of maintaining the interests [1] of different social groups based on the optimal distribution [2] of urban resources, incomes [3] and costs [4] (Gray, 2002: 27). Therefore, today, social justice issues are considered as a platform for environmental studies. An important issue in the fair distribution of facilities as a social justice strategy is how to distribute services and facilities between urban areas (Harvey, 1379: 97). When we talk about social justice, we discuss how to distribute good and bad things among the members of human society (Miller, 1999: 1). Low income, when combined with income poverty caused by less access to goods and services provided by the public sector, leads to the backwardness of regions (Hosseinzadeh, 1380: 42). The concept and function of social justice is a concept that has entered the geographical literature since the late 1960s and radical and liberal geography. affects more than other schools. Harvey considers the application of social justice in geographic analysis to be a revolution in geographic thinking (Shakoui, 1373:141). The realization of social justice in its inclusive sense also requires economic efficiency (Bastanifar & Renani, 2008:258).

Nowadays, sociologists like Henri Lofavor clearly want social justice in the city for the disadvantaged. According to him, the city should be changed and life should be changed, and he was looking for a solution to realize social justice (Jamali, 1376: 43).

In the last few years, social theories form the main axis of the analysis of urban issues. In the opinion of the most famous contemporary geographers, social constructions cannot be separated from spatial constructions. In geographical discussions, the production of space and its distribution is emphasized because the new theory related to space and society has opened new horizons in the discussions that did not exist in the history of geography until 1980, and the scientific validity of new geography is also related to these new theories (Khosh Roy, 1385: 4). Unfortunately, there are no universally accepted principles of social justice. Nevertheless, the concept of social justice has always been discussed in social philosophy from Aristotle's ethics to this side (Harvey, 1379:97).